In a socialist economy, all human needs would be met by plans developed by the workers themselves. Even natural disasters would be accounted for with recovery plans to minimize human suffering.
In the profit system, where insurance companies and profiteers rule, the state and its agencies work in the interest of maximizing profit with little or no concern for human misfortune.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency—the agency that is designated to assist people in recovering from disaster—recently mailed out 83,000 debt collection notices to victims of Hurricane Katrina and other storms that took place in 2005. Several thousand notices are for collection for assistance received due to recent floods in other areas.
Hurricane Katrina hit Florida and then accelerated to a level three hurricane as it landed in New Orleans, one of the poorest cities in the United States. More than 80 percent of the city was flooded by the collapsed levees. It took days for FEMA and other emergency agencies to respond, resulting in a higher death toll as residents—primarily African American and other poor people—were unable to escape the flooded city and had no access to food or clean water.
Hurricane Katrina incurred the highest amount of financial damage of any U.S. natural disaster—costing more than $81 billion in property damage. It is among one of the five deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history: 1,833 people died in the storm and flooding afterwards. Many people died after waiting days for assistance while trapped in the city.
Only a criminal system would ignore the very agencies that allowed for the suffering of the people in New Orleans in such a racist way, and then claim that their victims had been overpaid and demand repayment!
The debt notices being sent out by FEMA are for alleged clerical errors and overpayments to victims of Hurricane Katrina and other storms. The so-called debts amount to $4,622 per individual—less than 5 percent of what FEMA paid out during Hurricane Katrina. Although seemingly a small amount of money per individual, the burden of this collection effort could ruin those who have begun to rebuild their lives in the wake of the disasters that impacted them.
President Obama has signed congressional legislation that would waive some of these debts, but FEMA officials report that they are still interpreting the new law and looking at how to implement it.
In the meantime, the collection process has begun, and victims of natural disasters are worried about the consequences this process will have on them. Some have already agreed to payment plans for the sum owed. Some appeals have been successful in erasing the debt owed.
Along with these appeals, there is a class-action lawsuit in response to the efforts to recover alleged overpayments and FEMA’s decision to end housing subsidies.
There can be limited success through challenges within the constraints of the capitalist legal system. However, real justice will be won when a system that puts people’s needs first triumphs, implementing procedures to assist those in need with the utmost compassion and care as part of the response to a natural disaster. The criminal collection proceedings by FEMA show the need for this all the more.
